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Thursday, October 15, 2009

Here's something to squawk about - are you rooting for Dodgers or Phillies?

Here's an argument for our readers - which team are you rooting for in the NLCS - the Dodgers or the Phillies? Although I want to stick with my karma on not rooting for a potential team for the Yankees to face in the World Series, I like the idea of chanting "Go Phillies," just to tick off Met fans. Besides, do you know how insufferable Joe Torre will be if he makes it to another World Series? I'm officially neutral, but put it this way - I'm sorely tempted to root for the Phillies!

At any rate, it might be an even more intense argument than the one going on TV ratings!

The Dodgers are playing the only team that would have me rooting for LA. Hope the Dodgers win, but will cheer the NL winner regardless. Hate the Phillies, but hate the AL more. Without the DH, I could cheer for them. Until that day comes, if it ever does, I am happy that at least one league is still playing baseball as it is meant to be played (not exactly sure what to call what the AL plays).

Happy 40th Anniversary to all Met fans. I was hoping to have a tribute ready for "Uncle Mike's Musings" today, but real life (laundry, the nieces, and a ticket to tonight's Rutgers game) intruded. Oh well.

Let's see... I could choose the L.A. team, the O'Malley franchise, and the obstruction in the Number 23 that kept the Yankees from winning for 14 years... or I could choose a team from a real city with real fans and great characters. Phillies in 5, as the Curse of Donnie Regular Season Baseball bites Joe Torre in the tush again.

Anonymous: Here's what you call what the American League plays: "Baseball." Wake up and enter the 21st Century and embrace the designated hitter. A baseball team doesn't have nine men. It has 25. Or do you want a Mets rotation of Santana, Reyes, Wright, Beltran and Delgado? Ah, you'd probably be better off.

Different Anonymous here: the debate rages on as to whether the DH is good or bad for baseball. Purists say "no", since that is not the way the game was "meant" to be played. Progressive thinkers say "yes" because the DH generates more scoring (which sells tickets). Arguments can be made for and against the DH, but to really settle the argument, Bud and all 30 owners and the players union should really just decide one way or the other, and stick with it.

I think it would be great to see a Freeway series (Angels vs. Dodgers), but Phillies vs. Angels would be intriguing too. As long as it's not the Yankees - yuck.

Paul: I don't know where to look for the ratings. I do know that Ken Burns' miniseries said that 75 million people watched Game 7 in '75, as the people who watched Game 6 in all its drama told two friends, and they told two friends, and so on. And that was after the DH, but before they started using the DH in the Series.

I've also read that the highest-rated game ever was the 1980 Phils-over-Royals clincher, and the DH was used in that Series. Beyond that, barring further research, your guess is as good as mine.